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BY ROD HANSEN
Merri-Loo Community Preschool will have a home at the Grasmere Town Hall for at least another two years, following a selectmen’s vote at their meeting Monday, May 7.
The vote came despite some preschool officials’ fears that their days in the historic building may be numbered.
"We’re very glad that selectmen listened to our suggestions. We’re vested in the Grasmere Town
Hall," Jennifer Getchell, president of Merri-Loo’s board of directors, said after selectmen voted to renew the school’s lease.
Merri-Loo currently pays a yearly rent of $3,933 to the town for renting the building on Goffstown Back Road. The new lease takes effect in June with a 5 percent increase, bringing the rent to $4,129.
During a statement to selectmen, Getchell said the town makes money through Merri-Loo’s presence both from rent and the school’s upkeep of its portion of the building.
The two-year renewal found its main dissenting voice in Selectman Scott Gross, who said the town should extend the lease only one year. He said that would give the town the chance to determine their future plans for the building. That motion died for lack of a second.
Gross outlined several problems with the Grasmere Town Hall building at a previous meeting with Merri-Loo officials on April 30. He said the building faced painting and clapboard issues, and referred to the structure as a
"money pit."
At that time he said he was not inclined to renew the lease, though at the May 7 meeting he said he was swayed by the knowledge that the school had already registered students for its upcoming session.
The board voted 4-1 to renew the lease for two years, with Gross opposed because he favored a shorter time frame.
Merri-Loo currently hosts a preschool program with 35 students ages 3 to 4 that runs from September to May, as well as an after-school enrichment program.
The school celebrates its 40th anniversary on Halloween of this year, said director Lorraine Cottle.
Merri-Loo has operated 39 of those years at the Grasmere Town Hall, Cottle said.
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